(6cy) Electrocatalysis for Sustainable Energy Storage and Conversion

Electrochemistry offers a versatile toolkit for enabling a sustainable energy economy. Through liquid fuel synthesis, energy storage and conversion devices it provides a pathway to fully engage renewable energy into the grid. From device scale catalyst integration, to precise control and characterisation of catalyst surfaces, my research interests are diverse but converge with the pursuit of uncovering fundamental understanding of catalytic activities. Through careful experimental design coupled to precise control of catalyst surfaces, my emphasis will be to determine intrinsic catalytic activity, selectivity and corrosion mechanisms. This fundamental insight will provide a feedback loop for the design and engineering of new, industrially relevant catalysts. Beyond fuel cell and electrolyser applications, I am very interested in applying these catalytic developments to environmental remediation technologies for water purification and reducing atmospheric pollution.

Teaching Interests:

I believe the future of our society lies in the hands of the next generation of scientists and therefore, as educators, teaching is of the uttermost importance. From lecturing undergraduates to mentoring postgraduate and undergraduate level students and from supervising undergraduate laboratory experiments to leading outreach in the community, I am dedicated to enthusing and inspiring students in chemical engineering. As a substitute lecturer for 3 separate courses (both at Stanford University and at the University of Wyoming) I have taught over 20 lectures. In addition to lecturing, for each course, I heavily participated in designing course content, as well as writing and grading exam questions and homework problems. In all aspects of my teaching and student interactions I strive to convey both the fundamental science, as well as, where appropriate, its impact on technology, highlighting the importance of the science. The success of engaging all students is certainly challenging, yet it is always my priority throughout my teaching. This can be in the context of fundamental scientific research, medicinal chemistry, chemical industry, the energy sector and other topics of pertinence to students.

To date, I have had the pleasure of supervising over 15 undergraduate, graduate students and postgraduates. My role has varied from student to student, but has included designing research projects, laboratory and safety training, and generally assisting data acquisition and analysis. I have been fortunate enough to interact with, inspire and lead students and am excited to transfer this skillset to designing laboratory work for Undergraduate (and Master) level students. Overall, I believe I am an extremely dedicated, patient and engaging educator and am extremely well suited to teaching in a chemical engineering department.

Research Experience

Research Engineer (Staff Scientist)

Stanford University, Chemical Engineering, USA August 2017 – present

Supervisor: Professor T.F. Jaramillo

• Synthesis of stable and active non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts for fuel cell application (e.g. transition metal nitrides, boron nitrides and oxides)
• Leader and coordinator of the experimental team (>10 researchers) working with the Toyota Research Institute at Stanford University in ORR catalysis development. This role involves mentoring students and postdocs working on our project within the Jaramillo laboratory via regular one-on-one meetings and discussions. Organise, schedule and lead regular meetings with our industrial sponsors.

Postdoctoral Scholar

Stanford University, Chemical Engineering, USA August 2015 – Jul 2017

Supervisor: Professor T.F. Jaramillo

• Stabilised photocathodes from corrosion. Investigated protection schemes to prevent corrosion of silicon photocathodes by an over layer of molybdenum disulfide for >1500 h stable PEC water splitting. To date, this is the most stable photocathode to be reported.
• Discovered new catalysts. Designed and synthesised a previously unexplored family of materials (transition metal arsenides) as active catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Led collaboration with Norskov Group at Stanford to compare DFT calculations with experimental results.
• Synthesised and characterised transition metal phosphides and sulfides at >1 g scale for use by our industrial collaborators (Proton Onsite) in membrane electrode assemblies for electrolysis of water.

Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Wyoming, Chemistry Department, USA March 2013 – July 2015

Supervisor: Professor B.A. Parkinson

Developed model systems for fundamental analysis of quantum dot (QD) and dye sensitization at single crystal surfaces

• QD sensitized single crystals. Synthesised, characterised and sensitised single crystal wide band gap semiconductors with near infrared absorbing QD materials.
• Designed attenuated total reflection setup. Developed an in-house attenuated total reflectance (ATR) absorption setup to probe simultaneously the spectral absorbance and photocurrent response of dye sensitization at a single crystal surface uncovering the correlation between adsorbed species and their ability to contribute to photocurrent signal.
• Outreach kit manager. Solar to Hydrogen Activity research Kit (SHArK) II Outreach Project. SHArK facilitates high school and undergraduate students for the discovery of new materials for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Coordinated software and electronic engineers to finalise designs and test our kits for use in the classroom.

Graduate Student

Imperial College London, Materials Department, UK September 2009 – December 2013

Supervisor: Professor D.J. Riley

Fabricated and characterised QD and molybdenum disulfide materials for sensitized solar cells

• Synthesised and sensitized mesoporous electrodes. Synthesised, characterised and tested cadmium selenide quantum dot sensitized photoelectrodes. Fundamental studies into (i) the influence of QD purification procedure and (ii) the effect of polysulfide electrolyte on CdSe sensitized solar cells photoelectrochemical performance.
• Investigated the photoelectrochemical properties of atomically thin (monolayer and few-layer) molybdenum disulfide materials.

Select Publications [11 published total. 8 first author. 4 in preparation. 1 book chapter]

1. L. A. King, T. R. Hellstern and T. F. Jaramillo, Highly Stable Molybdenum Disulfide Protected Silicon Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2017, 9, 36792 – 36798. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b10749
2. Kubie, L. A. King, M. E. Kern, J. R. Murphy, S. Kattel, Q. Yang, J. T. Stecher, W. D. Rice and B. A. Parkinson. Synthesis and Characterization of Ultrathin Silver Sulfide Nanoplatelets. ACS Nano, 2017, 11, 8471-8477. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b04280
3. L. A. King and B. A. Parkinson, Photosensitization of ZnO Crystals with Iodide-Capped PbSe Quantum Dots, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2016, 7, 2844-2848, DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01133
4. L. A. King, Q. Yang, M. L. Grossett, Z Galazka, R. Uecker, and B. A. Parkinson, Photosensitization of Natural and Synthetic SnO2 Single Crystals with Dyes and Quantum Dots, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2016, 120, 15735-15742, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b11071
5. L. A. King, W. Zhao, M. Chhowalla, D. J. Riley, and G. Eda, Photoelectrochemical properties of chemically exfoliated MoS₂. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 8935–8941. DOI: 10.1039/c3ta11633f

Proposal Writing Experience

• Led, coordinated, organised and wrote 3 proposals at Stanford University from various funding agencies (including Department of Energy, EERE, DoD SBIR as well as from industrial partners) (2016 – 2018).
• Successfully organised, wrote and edited 2 grants that were submitted and awarded funding (National Science Foundation, USA) (2014 – 2015)
• Competed for and successfully awarded various travel and attendance bursaries as a graduate student, including: “International Centre for Materials Research Summer School on Inorganic Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage” – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA (2012) “IDEAL Winter School Photovoltaic Solar Energy”, Paris, France (2011). Additional funding awarded from the “Energy Futures Laboratory”, Imperial College (2009 – 2011)